


Living Without Him

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Friendship, Gen, Normal Ending, no ships only friendship and reflection, oh and pie of course, sorta sad but also feel good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 11:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10463970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Sans and Toriel shared a bittersweet smile, knowing full well that neither of them could leave even if they wanted to, but they were glad to have each other's company anyway.Normal ending where papryus dies and sans goes to live with toriel in the ruins.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A fic i wrote almost a year ago but just got an account so i figured id post it as my first fic.  
> I probably wont be writing anymore undertale stuff, but i hope you enjoy anyway!

It had been just over a week since Sans moved in.

With Undyne having taken control over the underground in a rebellious rage and Papyrus gone, Sans took off with the only other person he thought he knew. So there he was, trapped in the ruins with the former queen of the underground.

“Sans? Are you feeling quite alright?” 

Sans shook his head and looked up from the table where he sitting and turned around to address the concerned voice coming from the kitchen. It was warranted question, he had just been sitting there at the dining room table all day with a book titled “The Interpretations of Dreams”. Of course, Sans hadn’t been reading the book at all in at least an hour or two, and had instead just been staring at the wall in front of him, trying to piece together his thoughts. Sans then realized he still hadn’t given Toriel an answer, so he slowly stuck out his left arm waving it around over his head in an exaggerated motion.

“i mean i was a second ago, but now im feeling all-left.” He grinned in his usual way at his weak attempt at a pun, but he knew it would work on Toriel anyways.

The sound of repressed laughter and footsteps grew louder from the kitchen as Toriel walked towards him and laid her hand on Sans shoulder, giving him a bittersweet smile. She had a very warm presence about her, and she always gave genuine kindness to everyone because Toriel truly believed everyone deserved it. She really was the best of us.

She bunched her eyebrows, making her look like a worried mother, “Very funny sans, but I mean it – are you alright? Is there something that is bothering you?”, 

This time Sans answered right away; he brushed it off waving his hand, “yeah, yeah no worries tori im good.”, He paused and looked down at his book again. “probably just tired.”

Toriel huffed and then stood up straight behind him and stuck a pose.  
“Well get up and get ready lazy bones because we are going to tend to the flowers today!”

Sans shot her a quizzical glance over his shoulder, then stood up resting his book on the table. He shot a glance over to her proud face; she really was trying to get him to do more than sit around all day. Understandable, considering for the past however many years her only company had been children. 

Sans turned to her and shrugged, “Looks like i have no choice in this then huh? Sure, im game.”

He started tossing on his jacket and turned to Toriel; she looked absolutely ecstatic, but she kept her composure about her, no doubt the end product of being a royal for all those years.

She shuffled around the house, every now and again giggling to herself quietly, searching for her watering can which was decorated with little yellow flowers and sat right next to her large purple sun hat. With the little to no sunlight down in the underground she would never need the sun hat, but it somehow fit her very nicely, making her face look even kinder. He quickly wondered if Toriel would bring it with her if they all ever did make it to the surface, but quickly shoved the thought from his mind.

“You know Sans,” She started as they headed out of the tiny purple house together, “I am very glad you came with me today.”

Sans looked up at her expectantly, “Oh yeah?”

Toriel’s whole body seemed to burst with positive energy. “Ohhh yes! It is the first time in many years that I have had the privilege to take someone to help me garden!”, She beamed down at him with a genuine grin and then looked straight ahead knowing exactly which path to take, having tread down it so many times.

At the mention of the past, Toriel seemed to come down from her high for a few paces, but trying not to ruin the upbeat mood, went back to being happy. And honestly, Toriel very was happy, tending to the flowers was one of her favorite few pastimes here in the ruins and she finally had someone to share it with. Someone who stayed.  
As they walked, Sans scanned all around the ruins. They had a run down and damp look to them, with the promise of mystery and adventure. He wondered what made Toriel hide down here in the first place anyway. They had never really talked about anything other than puns prior to moving in together, and of course there was that stupid promise, but it no longer mattered anymore, Sans had kept his end of the deal and now the human was gone.

Breaking the silence, Toriel decided to made small talk. She talked about the other monsters that lived down here in the ruins and why they stayed, about the time she set up the monster candy bowl for one of the younger children as a surprise and then forget it there, and Toriel’s eyes lit up when she told the story about the time one of the children scraped their knee because their glasses were all fogged up from crying and she had to carry them all the way back to her house to calm them down. It was obvious Toriel loved each and every child that fell with an intense motherly love.

And while Sans really did try to focus on her stories, he couldn’t think about anything other than the memory of his brother. Papyrus really would’ve loved the ruins wouldn’t he? The feeling of adventure, the dungeon-like architecture, it looked straight out of a treasure hunters fiction book. But more than anything, Papyrus would’ve loved all of the puzzles and the kind monsters. Sans imagined about how excited Papyrus would’ve been exploring this place and making new friends – and he knew in the back of his mind that Papyrus would’ve absolutely adored the talking rock and would probably try to get their sprinkled covered pet rock to be best friends with him. Sans could imagine all the nights Papyrus would’ve then stayed up trying to get their rock to talk with a deck of conversations starter cards in hand.

In many respects, Papyrus was a lot like Toriel – just hopped up on energy drinks. Of course He would’ve loved Toriel, and would insist on going gardening with her everyday just to make sure the flowers were alright. And when Toriel would go bug hunting he was sure that Papyrus would be racing far ahead, with more supplies than they ever would possibly need, just in case. Sans thought that Papyrus would’ve loved all the ruins had to offer, and odds are Papyrus would’ve loved taking care of the fallen children with just as much passion and vigor as Toriel.

God he missed him so much. 

Thinking about the fallen children made Sans chest hurt, so he keeps his emotions hidden from Toriel with the knowledge that this all probably doesn’t’ even matter anyway. It had seemed like his life had almost spontaneously restarted four times already. At first he thought it was some kind of sick reoccurring dream, but now Sans was just hoping that everything would go back to the beginning again. Sans silently wished to himself for another chance, to have him go to bed at Toriel’s and wake up in his own room on the morning of the humans arrival. And if there was a next time, Sans promised himself he would make sure his brother was safe from the human no matter what.

The duo walked through the final archway with the royal insignia on it into a surprisingly dark room. For being the one spot in the underground in which sunlight could actually get through, it was hard to see anything other than the intensely bright spot of sunlight hitting a patch of little yellow flowers. Toriel slowly walked over to the patch and bent at her knees slowly sprinkling the fragile flowers with her watering can. Sans stood a few steps behind her looking up trying to see if he could get a view of the surface.

Toriel looked down solely at the flower patch and started, “It is a miracle the children even survive the fall from that height is it not?”,  
She paused, reaching out to water the flowers grabbing at her gown slightly,” I truly do believe it is these flowers that save them, so I make sure to come down here every now and again to make sure the flowers are still healthy so that they can cushion their fall and keep the children safe.” 

Sans’ lifted his hand up to his face to shield it from the blinding sun and started walking around the flower patch to get a better view of the top of the large hole. The sunlight was just too bright for him to see anything other than some silhouettes of rock formations  
“so uh… “, He started clearing his throat, “why do ya think they come down here?” 

Toriel visibly shrunk at the question but continued to stare at the flowers.  
She sighed “Most of the children wouldn’t say or couldn’t remember. A few of them cried out for their families for comfort when they fell and others just got up and charged into the ruins themselves...” She paused for a moment and looked up to Sans, “… So I truly do not know.”

They both went into silence, the soft sounds of water trickling down the patch of flowers and soil and hitting ground filling up the room. Sans leaned to lay down on the ground face up towards the hole that lead to the surface, thoughts running through his head. Surely if he asked a more personal question of Toriel she wouldn’t get angry with him would she? Sans didn’t know what he would do if he lost Toriel too.

“hey uh tori?”, He leaned up on his elbows facing Toriel carefully. She gave him a hum in acknowledgement, so he started again, “you don’t have to answer this if ya don’t wanna, but uh… do ya ever think we’ll make it to the surface?”

Toriel’s answer was quick and sharp, “I hope not.”

Toriel’s response peaked Sans’ interest, but he stayed quiet for a moment letting her answer sink in. But then Toriel started again in a slightly more shaken voice, “I do not want anymore children to come here, and if I do find them fallen down… I… I will protect them.” She hesitated, “I will protect them from Asgore.”

Sans stayed silent again for a few minutes letting Toriel relax after the stressful question and laid back down on his back, closing his eyes and soaking up the sunlight. 

“you’re doin’ gods work tori, I don’t know how you deal with children, they are all so… sticky.”, Sans tried to lighten the mood, raising one arm in the air and shook it wildly, “they just gotta touch everything ya know? with their tiny little kid hands.”  
Toriel snorted a bit to herself at that remark, “Well what else do you suppose they touch things with Sans? They are only curious about the world.”

“all im sayin’”, Sans started, “is that if I were in charge of this place, those flowers would be long dead and those kids would’ve exploded or something, so you’re doin’ a real goat job down here.” He looked up and winked at Toriel, instantly putting her in a better mood with the joke. She laughed, but it was far from a dainty one, Toriel laughed with her whole body shaking with plenty of snorting and nasal sounds. The joke wasn’t even all that funny, but Sans figured Toriel just needed something to lighten the mood.

“Well mister exploding children,” She giggled, “What about your brother?”

Sans wasn’t expecting that. Sans wasn’t expecting to be talking about his brother at all with Toriel, and just like he said in his rather threatening voice mail to the human, he hadn’t told Toriel what the human did. Sans hadn’t told her that the child she loved murdered his brother in cold blood.  
But Sans remained completely still, not showing any signs that anything was wrong, he’d had plenty of practice.  
He leveled out his voice, “what do ya mean? i told ya he left to be a royal guard and follow his dreams and stuff.” 

Toriel continued, “ No not that silly, I mean you love him very much right? And you described him as very childlike, so you might already like children more than you think. You are very kind.” A large toothy smile spread across Toriel’s face as she turned towards Sans with every intention of her last statement to be a genuine compliment.  
Sans didn’t want to talk anymore, he just wanted to leave and go home and sleep, maybe he would dream of a scenario where Papyrus didn’t have to die. Sans lifted his body off the ground and brushed the dirt off of his clothes and looked to Toriel giving her an empty but convincing smile, “yeah… i guess so.”

On their way home from the flower bed, Toriel talked about the different children that had fallen down. She remembered all their names, their personalities, their preference of cinnamon or butterscotch, and all of their opinions on the delicious delicacy that was snail pie. Right as they were about to walk through the door of her home, Toriel stopped and looked down at Sans scrunching up her face like a suspicious grade school teacher.

“And do you know what is strange Sans? The last child that fell down here I could have sworn I had seen them somewhere before.” 

All of the nerves in Sans’ body immediately stood on end, but he tried to laugh it off, “heh, you uh… you what?”

Toriel continued, “When I saw them, I just had this feeling that their preference was butterscotch, but when I asked them, they kept insisting it was cinnamon. Strange, is it not?” She laughed and opened the front door, walking inside, “It was probably because they were wearing a similar sweater to my own children, they both adored butterscotch.”

Sans stood in the doorway for what seemed like hours. What did this all mean? He decided he would think about alone later tonight when he had privacy with his thoughts. Maybe it was nothing – maybe it was a coincidence. But in the back of his head Sans knew something was definitely up, and that this was no coincidence. He would have to write this all down later.

Sans shook his head, putting his previous thoughts on the back burner of his mind and walked inside Toriel’s home, greeted by the smell of butterscotch-cinnamon pie. Sans perked up, his expression filled with hunger and walked into the kitchen to find Toriel taking her now baked pie out of the oven to cool.

She placed her oven mitts down on the counter and glanced over to Sans, “I thought we could have a treat tonight so I let it cook while we were gone.” Toriel started to clean up around the kitchen, occasionally looking down at Sans while speaking, “I only usually bake this pie for special occasions, but I thought it would be nice to just enjoy it tonight.” She paused, “Although having you here with me is a special occasion hmm? I don’t get very many visitors you know, and I am very grateful you are here.”  
Sans and Toriel shared a bittersweet smile, knowing full well that neither of them could leave even if they wanted to, but they were glad to have each other's company anyway. Toriel reached for some plates in the cupboard and Sans got some utensils and set up the table.

The rest of the night was much more light-hearted. Sans and Toriel spent the night swapping silly stories from their past. Toriel shared memories of her old family life, and about how hard it was getting two children into bed when all they wanted to do was play with their toys together all night. Sans reminisced about his life in Snowdin, and told Toriel about all the creative ways Papyrus used to wake him up for work in the morning, including the time Papyrus decided that Sans would be much more awake if he got him out of bed himself -- only to end up dragging Sans’ body halfway through town before he woke up. 

Both of them had a wonderful night filled with pie and friendship, despite the bittersweet taste the memories of the past. It felt good for the both of them to talk about their loved ones again, to laugh about the good times rather than to look at where they are now and how they got there. And so with full bellies and warmed hearts they both headed to bed for the night, their heads full of the happiness of the past. Sans laid down on Toriel’s big comfy chair by the fireplace and as he started to drift asleep, the last conscious thought he had was that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad living with Toriel from now on. All things considered, it could’ve been much, much worse. And Sans was glad he wasn’t going through this alone.

Sans woke up the next morning still groggy from the night before, and rubbed his face trying to wake himself up. Loud stomping could be heard from the outside of… his room? Sans was in his room. Sans sat up straight and looked around wide-eyed and confused. And then it hit him, he was back at the beginning, and Sans had got his wish. He looked down at his hands and the relief washed over him in waves of intensity. 

Suddenly a harsh voice called out from outside of his bedroom, followed by frantic knocking on his door “Sans you lazy bones! Don’t make me come up there and drag you out of bed again! We have to go to work or Undyne will never let me into the royal guard!!!!” 

 

Sans had gotten another chance.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
